Chapter 21.3
Probably due to a nearby university just beginning summer break, a VR bar in Cheongjin-dong, Jongno District in Seoul was somewhat crowded.
Jo Wol-saeng finished the entrance procedures, then picked up a paper cup and filled it with soda at the drinks bar. He entered a single room, leaned back into a reclining seat, and heaved a long sigh.
He felt like he’d been sighing like that more and more recently. He knew the reason for it, too. He was already 20 this year, a sophomore in university, and next year he’d have to take a leave of absence for two years’ military service.
He had until his 30th birthday to enlist, so he could push it back a few years if he wanted to, but students who didn’t complete their service before graduation would be at a heavy disadvantage when searching for a job. Nearly all of his fellow classmates would be taking leaves of absence for military service after their sophomore year, and since his parents were urging him to do so as well, he really had nowhere to run.
Wol-saeng took a sip of his flat soda, and sighed again.
Everything unsettled him, from whether he, who was out of shape, could withstand the harsh training to whether he would be bullied amongst the troops. But what depressed him more was the fact that his current life would be stolen away for two whole years. But he wasn’t thinking of his life in the real world; rather, the virtual world, which his friend had invited him to experience when he had first started university, and where he had been engrossed ever since — two whole years of being unable to enter that world was, to him, more distressing than any sort of training.
“…… If only I could have this in the army…”
He muttered as he picked up the FullDive interface hanging from a stand on the table — the «AmuSphere». Belonging to a popular VR bar, the device was tattered inside and out, but to Wol-saeng, this machine shined brighter than an angel’s halo.
Three years ago — in 2023, this device was released in Japan; beginning to stock shelves all around the world the next year, it triggered a huge boom in South Korea, where the online game industry was already flourishing. Once named «PC Bars», Internet cafes began renaming themselves into «VR Bars», fully equipped with AmuSpheres. Young people all became absorbed by VRMMORPGs, developed in either Japan or the US.
«Silla Empire», which Wol-saeng had been playing for a year and a half, was a Korean localization of the Japanese-developed «Asuka Empire». It wasn’t merely translated; even the towns, the avatars, and the content of the quests were all modified to resemble Korea’s ancient Silla dynasty. It has had the highest popularity in Korea since beginning service.
On the other hand, players had been furiously clamoring for a purely Korean-made work, so numerous companies began developing all-new VRMMOs using the completely cost-free software package «The Seed». However, the package itself was still Japanese-made, so without connecting to the Japan-based «The Seed Nexus», one couldn’t fully utilize its features. But Japan’s VRMMOs fundamentally obfuscated connections from Korea and China, which resulted in an inability to produce new games with quality comparable to that of «Silla Empire», causing Korean players to feel increasingly dissatisfied.
— I really want to play an all-Korean game before I leave for the army, but it looks like that ship has sailed…
Wol-saeng sighed yet again, casting the thought away from his mind. He lay heavily back onto the reclining chair and donned the AmuSphere.
“… Link Start!”
He recited the sole universally-recognized voice command and closed his eyes.
Passing through rays of variegated light, he input the VR bar’s User ID and password, and arrived in a simplistic launching area. Then, he prepared to press the icon for «Silla Empire».
But just then, he noticed that a social networking app window, floating on the right side of the dark space, was currently scrolling at an insane speed. It looked as though the several hundred users he followed were all reposting a single piece of news at once.
“……… What’s going on?”
Puzzled, Wol-saeng pushed the launching program to the left, pulling the social networking app window towards him. Then, he tapped onto the news, magnified it, and read the words aloud.
“Hmm… ‘Korean, American, and Chinese volunteers have jointly developed an all-new VRMMO, and its test server… has been invaded by Japanese players, who are attacking the test players’?! What the hell?!”
To be honest, Wol-saeng found something like this hard to believe. But attached at the very end of the news was a link that resembled that of a video; he clicked it somewhat dubiously.
A player window opened, and then —
“Vanguard, attack!!”
A bold, ferocious roar played at deafening volume. Wol-saeng, who had watched quite a few Japanese anime, instantaneously recognized the pronunciation as Japanese.
The video displayed Japanese-looking players dressed in silver equipment launching an attack against players dressed in red equipment, killing them one by one. A great volume of blood would splash out every time that glistening sword swung, while curses in English and screaming echoed all around.
Judging by the utterly lawless cruelty taking place, this was indeed happening inside a test server. Just like the news had said, Japanese players were one-sidedly attacking American players.
When the 30-second video had finished, Wol-saeng felt somewhat absentminded.
A «server attack» typically referred to the act of increasing its workload in order to shut it down, or the act of vandalizing a website, but diving into a VR world and attacking test players… this was his first time hearing about such a thing. If the video’s content were to be trusted, then that meant something like that was currently taking place, but something felt off to him.
Yes… in the video, the Japanese players, who seemed to possess equipment far exceeding that of the American players in terms of properties and abilities, were one-sidedly exterminating them. However, he felt that the desperate side wasn’t the Americans, the ones being attacked, but the Japanese, the ones attacking them. Attacking a server almost always ended up being somewhat of a practical joke, but… these people seemed to be waging a life-and-death war…
Suddenly, a shrill ding-dong chime sounded, causing Wol-saeng flick his head up.
It was his fellow guild member from «Silla», who had seen that he was online and had sent him a voice-chat request. He pressed the “Accept” button, a new window opened up, and an urgent voice called Wol-saeng’s character name.
“Hey, Moonphase, did you see those tweets?!”
“Uh… yeah, I just did…”
“Then what’re you waiting for? Start downloading the client!”
“C… Client?”
He hurriedly looked back at the social networking app window and glanced at the next tweet.
Written there — In order to save the test players from the Japanese’s despicable attack, we are recruiting volunteers from the entire Korean VRMMO player base. If you wish to help us out, please download this client software and install it onto your AmuSpheres.
“…This?… Hwan-ung, you think this is real?”
“Of course I do, didn’t you see the video?! As we speak our comrades are getting killed!!”
“I did see it… But, that video…”
Wol-saeng was about to convey his feeling of unease, but was immediately interrupted.
“Anyway, just hurry up and install it! Myung-hoon and Helix already dived, so we’ll be waiting for you over there!”
The voice-chat ended, and silence was restored to the launching room.
Although Wol-saeng still had many doubts, nearly all of his fellow guild members were participating, and he didn’t want to know how they would chastise him if he ignored them. He’d probably find more clues inside — besides, come to think of it, a disturbance like this could very well be a guerilla event for a new game. If he didn’t participate, he wouldn’t be able to reap the benefits.
Making his decision, Wol-saeng pressed the “Download” button and installed the client onto the AmuSphere, causing a new icon to appear among the launch programs. After pressing the crimson icon, onto which the words “HELP US” were inscribed in black, Wol-saeng felt his consciousness being sucked into a different world.
***
Even after transferring a large number of connections from China and Korea into Underworld, Critter remained somewhat dubious.
Although he had followed Vassago Casals’ instructions, to disseminate an Underworld connection client within the two countries that neighbored Japan, he remained very suspicious throughout the process.
— ‘Cause aren’t the Japanese and Koreans pretty much the same?
There were a great number of Americans who didn’t know that Japan and Korea weren’t connected by land, and there were even those who thought that the two countries were both part of China. Although Critter wasn’t quite so ignorant, he was also under the impression that the three nations were completely friendly to each other. As for their relations, weren’t they a quarrelsome but loving bunch, just like the EU?
That was why Critter was completely unable to fathom Vassago’s instructions.
Since he hadn’t had the time to create a new, fake site, he had used social networking sites to spread the news. His first tweet had been: “The Japanese are attacking a server for a VRMMO jointly developed by American, Chinese, and Korean volunteers!”
The second tweet was an explanation of the first: “The Japanese players want to hog The Seed Nexus so bad that they hacked the server, and started creating powerful characters as they please. They are attacking the American, Chinese, and Korean test players. Since this server has not been equipped with pain absorption nor an ethics code, our comrades are being massacred while experiencing intense pain.” Then he attached a video he had captured of a battle in Underworld.
The video itself was actually footage of Human Empire knights and soldiers beating back American players, but the Underworld residents spoke Japanese anyway. It seemed that the video had made a gigantic impact; the number of retweets was exponentially increasing, and the number of downloads had far, far exceeded that of the US.
Taken aback, Critter thought:
— Why do I feel that the Japanese online gamers don’t really get along well with Chinese or Korean players?
***
— Oh, it’s far worse. They simply detest each other.
Vassago Casals, who had returned to Underworld with his «Laughing Coffin» character, «PoH», began to grin under his black hood.
He raised his right hand high, and shouted loudly in Korean to the red players behind him.
“— Go teach those invaders a lesson!! Slash and stab and kill, make it as painful as you can so that they won’t even think of harming our comrades again!!”
As soon as the great army of no less than 50,000 heard these two sentences, it let loose a ferocious bellow. To them, the American “testers” being killed by the Japanese players had already become their fellow countrymen.
Trying his best not to laugh, Vassago swung his right hand down.
With a thunderous rumbling like an avalanche, the crimson legion threw itself towards the Japanese below them.
— Come on, kill each other. Dance that ugly, miserable, comical dance.
***
“… He’s here.”
Sinon murmured to herself.
She was looking at a jet-black dotted line falling from the crimson sky, like a thread of silk.
Right now, she wanted very much to charge «Annihilate Ray» to its maximum and blow the enemy away as soon as he materialized. That way he would be unable to defend or evade.
But right now she needed to buy time. If the enemy were capable of producing unlimited high-level accounts, then instantly destroying him would be pointless.
First, she needed to drag the enemy into a war of attrition, then observe his reaction. If her opponent showed signs of wanting to protect his own life, she could deduce that he was using a valuable account that could only be used once. Then, she would attack at full force, rendering him unable to login with the same account again.
But, in the event that the account could be mass-produced, she couldn’t kill him. She had to try her best to drag out the battle and buy enough time for Alice to head towards the «World End Altar».
So Sinon did not pull back her bowstring, and instead merely remained hovering in the air, waiting for the enemy to materialize.
The place where the black code landed was where, minutes ago, Knight Commander Bercouli’s body had lay.
The Knight Commander’s body had been placed onto the other dragon’s saddle by Integrity Knight Alice; she seemed to want to deliver him to a female Integrity Knight waiting in the Human Empire.
Shino had asked: “Your rival in love?” Alice had smiled slightly and replied: “You are my rival in love.”
— Good grief.
At this, Sinon could no longer log out easily. She had to stay in this world, at least until the moment when Kirito awoke.
Sinon steeled her determination once again, and stared towards the mountain of rock.
The black line touched the middle of the level summit and transformed into a pile of viscous fluid.
Its color was as dark as a bottomless pit leading straight to hell.
When the final line was absorbed into the puddle as well —
Bloop.
A tiny ripple poked out of the surface. Then a right hand extended outwards silently. As she watched the sight of those five long, thin fingers waving in the air, Sinon could not help but feel a cold shudder running down her back.
She did her best to resist the urge to immediately burn them to ash, waiting for the enemy to materialize.
Following the right hand, a left hand also appeared and seized the edge of the puddle.
Then a man’s head appeared as well, with the slippery, moist sound of liquid.
— What slightly surprised Sinon was the fact that this character didn’t possess any distinguishing facial features; at least, he wasn’t handsome by any means. His short golden hair clung tightly to his head, his nose and lips were thin, and he looked somewhat Caucasian, but distinctly unremarkable.
Was this really the all-new body of the man who had controlled the Dark God Vector Super Account?… Sinon pondered, moderately surprised.
The man raised his upper body out of the puddle, swiveling his blue, marble-like eyeballs, finally sighting Sinon in the sky above him.
For an instant, Sinon felt strange.
She felt as though she had seen those eyes somewhere. They were a pair of eyes that seemed to reflect everything, yet seemed to consume everything at the same time; a pair of eyes without any emotion whatsoever.
Those eyes that sighted Sinon widened slightly. Then, a sliver of a contorted smile was visible on his lips.
Yes. I’ve seen them. I’ve seen those eyes… and that face. And it wasn’t too long ago, somewhere —
As Sinon was staring blankly at him, splat , with a drawn-out, viscous splashing noise, the man leapt out of the puddle all at once.
His getup was a little peculiar as well. He seemed to have automatically converted his equipment over; he was not dressed in ornate metallic armor. His deep-gray uniform’s top and bottom complemented each other and were secured with a belt, while his feet were wrapped in bound long boots, almost exactly like a combat uniform worn by soldiers in the real world. His weapons were a longsword at his left waist, and a crossbow at his right.
When the man had completely exited it, the black puddle did not disappear. Shockingly, it separated from the ground, wriggling like an animal. No, it was an animal. The part where it peeled off extended outwards, transforming into a set of long, thin wings that beat steadily.
Its bizarre appearance was not that of a bird, nor was it of a dragon. At the front of its flat, basin-like body were four beady eyes. To its left and right were bat-like wings, and trailing behind it was a long, serpent-like tail.
When the combat uniformed man leapt onto it, the mysterious winged creature beat its wings and left the ground, ascending to a height equal to Sinon’s.
The creature hovered at 30 meters’ distance from Sinon, and the man on top revealed a hint of a smile again.
For some reason, he raised his unarmed hands and extended them directly in front of himself. Sinon became alert, thinking that he was about to chant some sort of incantation. But nothing happened. The man merely encircled his arms together, as though around Sinon’s neck, then made a sudden motion as though he were crushing his arms together.
In that instant, Sinon finally remembered. A parched voice escaped from her mouth.
“…… Subtilizer……”
That was it. This man was the American player who had strangled her to death from behind during the finals of the Gun Gale Online PvP tournament — the «Fourth Bullet of Bullets», held two weeks ago.
But why would he be here?
Forgetting even the longbow she held in her hands, Sinon focused solely on her surprise, her eyes widening.
***
The middle of the pyramidal, self-sustaining artificial island Ocean Turtle was marked by an ultra-strong main shaft constructed from high-strength titanium alloy.
At the bottom of the hundred-meter tall cylindrical main shaft was the main machine, protected by a multilayered isolation wall — the pressurized water reactor. Above it was the occupied main control room, and STL Room 1.
Underworld, or rather, the focus of Project Alicization — the Light Cube Cluster, was directly above the main control room. The areas up to this point belonged to the lower shaft.
Above the Light Cube Cluster was a perfectly level, pressure-resistant partition that divided the main shaft into the upper and lower shafts. The area above the wall was deemed the upper shaft: first was a large number of cooling devices, and then came the sub control room where the Rath employees had retreated to, along with STL Room 2, which Kirigaya Kazuto and Yuuki Asuna were currently using.
On July 7, at 9:00 am, a humanoid robot began moving on its own along the cooling devices, down the stairs on the bow side of the ship’s upper shaft. It was the Rath-developed prototype machine «Ichiemom». As though they were watching it totter along, three armed JSDF members followed it.
— I’m so glad that I’m not claustrophobic, acrophobic, or nyctophobic.
Higa Takeru encouraged himself silently, but at the same time, he felt that having a phobia shouldn’t matter after all.
Because this duct, lit only by orange emergency lights, extended straight down for a full 40 meters. If his sweat-soaked hands slipped once, or his trembling feet missed a single step, he would plunge straight down onto the pressure-resistant partition that plugged this duct, and end up experiencing quite an unpleasant sensation.
If he’d known this already, he would have let the researcher, Yanai, go first. At least that way he wouldn’t need to keep staring down into the vertical well.
— By the way, he said he was gonna be my shield, but went “After you” when it was the real deal. What the heck?
Higa huffed somewhat indignantly and glanced a few meters above his head, where Yanai was grabbing onto the ladder.
However, upon seeing his already white face become even paler as he clung to the ladder for dear life, Higa didn’t have anything more to say. Yanai’s willingness to accept such a dangerous mission should already be praised, and the automatic handgun stuffed into the holster on his waist was more or less a relief.
When he turned back downwards, the earpiece in his left ear transmitted a steady voice.
“How is it, Higa-kun? Everything okay?”
The voice belonged to Koujiro Rinko, who was peeking into the access hole above their heads.
Higa replied hoarsely into the microphone beside his mouth.
“Ah… yeah, kind of. About five more minutes and we should be able to reach the pressure-resistant partition.”
“Got it. When you guys are ready, I’ll send the assault command to Ichiemom team. You guys should open the partition only after the enemy starts attacking Ichiemom when they spot it.”
“ Roger . Wow, this really feels like Mission Impossible .”
“Oh pleeease, make this mission Possible . I can’t help but feel that how the situation changes in Underworld is all on Kirito-kun’s recovery… Sorry, Yanai-san, please watch over this kid.”
The last bit was directed towards Yanai. Once Higa heard Yanai whimper “ Roger ” in reply, he couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly.
— “This kid”, huh?
He shook his head and tightly gripped the iron ladder rung with his palms, which had somehow become sweaty.
Looking directly downwards, he found that the partition had, at some point, come into view.
***
Critter had been dully watching the gigantic, writhing cloud on his monitor, condensed from the Chinese and Korean players who had dived in, but a sudden alarm made him jump up.
“The heck…?!”
He scanned the console in a panic, and discovered that a red alarm was flashing on a side monitor to the right.
“Whoa… The pressure-resistant partition was unlocked! S-Someone go take a look at the duct!!”
Before he even finished shouting, the tall assault team member Hans grabbed his assault rifle and bolted outside.
“Fuck, there goes my good hand!”
Brigg muttered while tossing his full suit of playing cards onto the ground, then ran outside after Hans.
Had Rath, who were at a crushing disadvantage in terms of equipment and firepower, thrown the helve after the hatchet and begun a banzai charge? Or were they plotting something else…?
Critter left the console and walked towards the control room door. The power to the elevators had been cut, so he would have to use the stairs if anything were to happen. Hans and Brigg seemed to have come to the same conclusion; the loud stamping noises of their feet on metallic stairs traveled from above.
But the footsteps suddenly halted, replaced by coarse shouts.
“ Woah!! “
“ Are you kidding?! “
Then came a burst of rifle fire.
***
Higa could already feel a clear ratatatat coming from outside the duct; gunfire from an automatic rifle.
At that moment, on the other side of the main shaft, poor Ichiemom’s muscle membranes and titanium skeleton had probably been riddled with innumerable holes. However, his battery and control system were installed on his back, so even if he were hit, he should still be able to move for a bit.
“All right! Open the hatch on the pressure-resistant partition now!”
As Professor Koujiro’s voice traveled into his earpiece, Higa threw his entire weight into twisting the valve of the pressure-resistant hatch dividing the duct. With a psshh , the hydraulic damper began to move, and the heavy metal cover lifted upwards.
The other side of the partition, located in the duct of the lower shaft, was also illuminated by dark orange emergency lights. The commotion coming from the battle raging in the stairwell on the other side of the main shaft suddenly became much clearer.
Higa swallowed, readjusted his backpack that contained his mini portable laptop, and passed through the access panel that was narrower than the duct itself. Then, he stepped onto another ladder, and continued down.
— In this sort of moment, people in action movies would be yelling dramatically.
“ Go go go!! “
He muttered, and Rinko’s confused voice came through his earphone.
“Um, what did you say?”
“N-Nothing. …About ten meters to the cable maintenance port… Ah, I see it, there it is!”
The numerous thick fiber optic cables spread along the wall of the cable duct all terminated at a black fuse box. If he plugged in his laptop into the maintenance port inside, he could theoretically control Units #3 and #4 inside STL Room 2, and also Units #5 and #6 far away in the Roppongi branch, directly.
— Just wait, Kirigaya-kun. I’ll have you awake in no time!
Higa forgot his fear, and as he frantically descended the ladder, a voice came through his earphone again.
“Then I’ll go back to the sub control room to monitor Kirito-kun’s Fluctlight. Good luck, Higa-kun!!”
Being praised by Professor Koujiro — whom he once called Koujiro-senpai, in a way that seemed to transport him back their college days, made Higa look upwards in spite of himself.
But all he saw was Yanai, who was climbing down the ladder with a face full of desperation.
Higa sighed helplessly in his heart, then looked again towards the fuse box, which was drawing ever closer.
***
Having appeared atop the mountain still scarred by an intense battle, the man in combat uniform looked southwards and murmured in a monotonous voice:
“… Alice got away? No matter, I can catch up to her quickly…”
Then he looked to Sinon again, and smiled slightly.
“… As I remember, we should’ve fought before in a Gun Gale Online tournament. Your name is… «Sinon»? Who could have imagined that we’d meet again in such a place?”
Listening to the inhuman voice of that man, who was Dark God Vector and Subtilizer at the same time, Sinon desperately tried to stop her hands from shaking. But her fingers had stiffened, her palms were drenched in sweat, and she felt that if she made any sudden moves, even the Bow of Solus would drop to the ground.
Standing on the back of the disc-shaped, winged creature, Subtilizer smiled a temperature-less smile, and continued in fluent Japanese.
“What exactly is going on? I heard that there were no more STL units in Japan… Could you be an associate of Rath? Or rather, a mercenary who would even come to a place like this?”
With difficulty, Sinon urged her dry lips to move and demanded hoarsely:
“Subtilizer… I want to ask you, why are you here?”
“Because it is inevitable, of course.”
Subtilizer spread his arms wrapped in gray combat garb, seemingly unable to suppress the glee within him, and continued:
“This is fate. The power of the soul that has drawn you and me together.”
His tone was slowly changing. His very voice seemed to grow icier and icier.
“Yes… I want you. That is why we are meeting again. This will explain a great deal to me. Whether my target, whose soul I absorb through the STL, is limited to Artificial Fluctlights, or includes humans from the real world… I will also fully understand the sweetness of your soul, which I was unable to taste during that GGO tournament.”
As Sinon listened to these bizarre words, the words that this man had spoken to her during the fourth BoB finals echoed in her mind.
— Your soul will be so sweet.
— Your soul will be so sweet. 22
Her body grew increasingly cold, she became taut, and even her breathing turned erratic.
“Come… to me, Sinon. Give your everything to me.”
An icy glow gleamed within Subtilizer’s blue eyes.
Zzt . The world distorted.
Air, sound, and even light were all being twisted and absorbed into Subtilizer’s eyes.
“Wha……… “
What was this?
Even thoughts like that seemed to be dragged away by a powerful magnetism.
— No. I have to resist. I have to fight it.
A corner of her spirit screamed, but for some reason it felt incomparably weak.
Finally, even Sinon’s blue-armored body was sucked towards Subtilizer’s open arms.
The powerless fingers of Sinon’s left hand desperately pulled back the bowstring, wavering silently in midair.
Seconds later, through her muffled, cloudy consciousness, Sinon felt her own body become wrapped in Subtilizer’s darkness.
The man’s left hand found her back, his right hand grazed across her face and brushed her hair away from her ear.
Subtilizer’s thin, thin lips approached her exposed left ear, and that voice like icy black water drilled directly into her brain.
“Sinon, have you ever thought of the meaning behind the name «Subtilizer»?”
“…………?”
Utterly powerless, Sinon shook her head from left to right.
“It very much resembles a name, «Satori», that an American would be fond of and change to their liking, doesn’t it? However, this is genuine English. It is spelled « Subtilizer » . It refers to «one who refines», «one who carves», «one who selects»… and «one who steals».”
Light even more intense than before suddenly exploded from Subtilizer’s eyes, now directly in front of Sinon’s face.
“I will steal you. I will steal your soul…”
***
The place where Jo Wol-saeng landed was atop a rock covered with cracks and moss.
This wasn’t a natural rock, but a man-made object. He appeared to be on the rooftop of a gigantic temple-like structure. His surroundings were choked with Korean players who had just logged in, and they seemed to number in the thousands… probably the tens of thousands.
Since there hadn’t been a character selection program, everyone’s equipment was different, be it in the details or the weapons, but they were all colored a uniform crimson. Wol-saeng glanced at his own hands for a bit, which were now wrapped in gauntlets of the same color, then looked forward.
Although he couldn’t really discern his location since he was in the midst of a crowd, he could still see that a battle was raging on the plains in front of the temple.
But the Korean players around him didn’t move either, probably because the outcome of the battle was already decided. The group of people dressed in multicolored getups, who looked to be the Japanese players, seemed to have already completely annihilated the legion clad in the same red as Wol-saeng and the others. They had already reorganized their troops, but they didn’t seem to be celebrating in any way.
He knew it. Something was off. But he was unable to immediately articulate what.
At the very least, it didn’t look like a promotion event for a new game, like he had imagined before diving in. This area, with only a red sky and black ground, looked much too simplistic, and the complete absence of any user guidelines or warnings before he had dived in didn’t indicate the presence of an official event at all.
But even so, he was still unable to completely believe what he had read in the tweet. Besides, what meaning was there in invading a test server and killing test players? Even if they could wreak temporary suffering and humiliation upon them, they wouldn’t be able to stop, or even delay development of the game.
Nearly half the Koreans around Wol-saeng also looked bewildered about the situation. Voices saying “What do we do?” “Are those guys really Japanese?” were heard.
— But, just then.
“Comrades!”
A shout in Korean came from ahead, to the right.
Wol-saeng strained his back to see, but because he was blocked by too many players, he couldn’t see what the speaker looked like. However, he did catch a glimpse of a red logo, [Leader] , hovering above someone in the crowd. The same voice rang out from the direction of that logo.
“Thank you very much for answering our call! — Regrettably, the closed beta testers who were testing inside this server have already all been killed by the Japanese aggressors, no, the Japanese invaders! But those guys are still preparing to head for other test points and repeat their crimes!”
In the next moment —
Wol-saeng felt palpable anger emanating from this group of several thousands.
What incensed the Korean players had probably been the word “invaders”. 23 The confusion and suspicion that had been plaguing quite a few players immediately evaporated, replaced with a boiling hostility that covered the entire area.
“… BIGEOBHAN ILLBONIN! “
Someone bellowed, then bits and pieces of enraged yelling were heard. After the hubbub subsided, that «Leader» declared again in a carrying voice:
“Those Japanese hacked our server, and created high-level equipment for themselves to their hearts’ content! And we, who have had our administrator privileges stolen, can only give you default equipment, comrades! However, your righteous and patriotic fervor will not lose to any sword or armor!”
At this, an even louder roar of assent exploded from the crowd.
“ ULI NALALEUL JIKYEOLA! “
Then, from very far away to the right, a wave of furious roars that were not in Korean came thundering over.
“ GANCHUU RANMEN!”
Wol-saeng couldn’t understand what it meant, but he recognized it as Chinese. It seemed that the number of Chinese players here as well was no less than that of the Korean players.
Even as the atmosphere intensified profoundly, Wol-saeng still felt very uneasy. But at the same time, he knew that no one could stop this fervor now.
Behind the human wall, the «Leader» raised his black gloved right hand high in the air.
“——— Go!! “
Receiving this command understood by both Koreans and Chinese, the red legion, burning with a blazing conflagration of rage, advanced forward like a gargantuan creature, trembling violently as it went.
***
“Hu… Human Empire Army! Supply team!
Advance at full speed—!”
Asuna shouted herself hoarse before the red army choking the palace rooftops left and right made their move.
The Human Empire Defense Army’s supply team currently had an encampment set up near the sando entrance of the ancient ruins. The temple stretched out on both sides of the sando . In other words, several tens of thousands of enemies were currently entrenched directly above the supply team.
“Dump your goods and run now , carriages and Arts Users!!”
Even though she gave that order, it was already too late. The new connector stepping into the battle, likely Chinese and Korean, had already crossed over the giant god statues’ heads and leapt directly into the center of the supply team.
Asuna clenched her teeth and raised the rapier in her right hand high.
Concentrating her imagination onto the sword’s tip, she forcefully swung it downwards. Divine, variegated light shot straight out and struck squarely onto the giant god statues lining both sides of the sando .
Even as excruciating pain shot through her head, almost enough to blow her consciousness flying, she concentrated her imagination. The stone statues shook the ground as they stood up, opening their rectangular mouths, waving their short hands, and began attacking the players choking the temple rooftops.
The red soldiers at the very front hurriedly retreated and collided with their friendly forces squeezing in from behind. They fell down like dominoes. Seizing the opportunity, eight carriages, the two-hundred member Ascetic team, and the supply team all began to move.
Asuna could only control the statues for around 30 seconds before the pain became too much for her to endure, and she dropped to her knees. But the rear of the Human Empire Army had managed to escape disaster and successfully retreated to the wide wilderness north of the ancient ruins. Around 500 Guardians and 2,000 Japanese players advanced forward and adopted a formation that defensively flanked their rear troops from both sides, preparing to engage.
But since this area had hardly any suitable terrain, their only option was to mount a despair-inducing omnidirectional defense against several tens of thousands of enemies. They had been able to painstakingly drive back the American players, who far outnumbered them, solely because they had used the walls of the palace ruins to restrict the front line to one place, and complemented it with a generous healing rotation. But now that they were surrounded by nearly forty to fifty thousand Chinese and Korean players, it was only a matter of time before the front line collapsed.
“Urgh……”
Squeezing out the last of her little remaining strength, Asuna pushed herself up and raised her rapier again.
— Please, last one… Let me build a strong wall that can protect everyone.
She prayed as she attempted to concentrate her imagination.
But.
Accompanied by an extraordinary impact surging through her body like an electric current, Asuna was thrown to the ground again. Something welled up in her throat and she spit it out, only to realize that it was a small amount of blood.
“Don’t push yourself too hard, Asuna! Let us have some of the spotlight as well!”
Klein shouted at her heartily.
“Yeah, leave it to us now.”
Agil responded in a deep voice.
As the two men standing in front of Asuna raised their katana and two-handed battleaxe —
The crimson legion that had recovered from the chaos began leaping down from the palace rooftops again. Since they were 20 meters above ground, a great many of them did not land safely and suffered injured limbs, with some not even being able to move, but the soldiers coming after them used the injured as human trampolines and landed safely on the ground.
“ DOLGYEO —— G!! “
“ TU —— JI!! “
Asuna had never learned either Korean or Chinese, but instinct told her that those two screams meant assault .
The crimson legion fanned out left and right, approaching ever closer, but the first ones to engage them were Klein and Agil.
“ Zeiryaaaaaaaaahhhhh!! “
“ U…. raaaaaaaaahhhhh!! “
Accompanied by simultaneous bellows that shook the air, wide range Sword Skills launched by the katana and battleaxe erupted. White and blue rays of light shone and enveloped each other as the blood of several tens of enemies flew into the air.
On both sides of the two men, the ALO Lords, their aides, and the heroes of the Sleeping Knights began to fight with all their might.
The continuous striking of metal pierced the battlefield like machinegun fire. A single explosion roared clearly and deeply. Swords, axes, and spears howled as each polychromatic Sword Skill exploded from them, cutting down the red soldiers without end.
The compressed air around them screeched and the army’s assault halted for an instant.
But it was only —
Effort as meaningless as attempting to stop with his bare hands a muddy surge of water that had broken its banks and was rushing towards him.
Lying on the ground, Asuna seemed to hear faint, shrill, mocking laughter coming from above the battlefield engulfed with screams of pain and roars of rage.
She swiveled her cloudy eyes, and caught sight of a man in a black poncho standing on the rooftop of the palace ruins, twisting his body as though he were dancing.
***
Higa listened to the sporadic gunfire coming from the other side of the main shaft while climbing down the ladder as quickly as he could.
Finally, he arrived in front the fuse box that dully reflected the orange lamps, and pried open the cover with stiff fingertips.
Inside was a wiring board stuffed full of a web of fiber optic wires, momentarily weakening him a bit, but Higa pulled back wire after wire, and finally located the maintenance port.
The moment had finally arrived.
He sucked in a deep breath to calm his thoughts, then retrieved a cable and the laptop from his backpack. He plugged one end of the cable into the maintenance port, the other end into the computer, and launched the STL control program with a mood that was almost like prayer.
A completely black window was opened, and a cursor at its top left began blinking tantalizingly. Finally, the cursor moved right and displayed a status message.
STL #3, Connecting…… OK.
STL #4, Connecting…… OK.
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